CHESAPEAKE, Va. — It wasn't that long ago when Western Branch's Josh Simpson didn't know much about football, but has that ever changed.
"He can sound like a gentle bear, but he's a giant on the field," noted Bruins' head coach Rashad Cook.
"Where else can you go and hit people for two hours a day and not get in trouble?," Simpson smiled. "That's special."
Seventh grade is when the game kind of found him, thanks to a middle school coach that approached him about his offensive line services.
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"He said to me 'Josh, I want you to come out and play center for our football team,'"recalled the junior lineman. "I said 'OK.' I didn't really know what I was getting into, exactly, but I got out there and I just fell in love with it."
"We knew he needed time to develop and grow," Cook added. "His sophomore year, we started to see the confidence and that confidence grew into actual playing time."
Now a junior, Simpson is Western Branch's starting center. However, when he's not on the snap, you might find him on the strings. The lineman is also a talented guitarist and vocalist.
"It's just kind of a calm part at the end of my day where I can just relax a little bit," he said of playing guitar. "Nothing else I have to do."
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Simpson taught himself the art of guitar. YouTube videos helped him along and now he can attack a line of music like an opponent across the line of scrimmage. He's excelling at guitar and added vocals into the mix, too.
"Seventh grade," the Bruin center said about when he decided to learn guitar. "COVID. I had a lot of time on my hands with the at-home virtual learning, so my parent got me a guitar for Christmas and from there I just went with it, me and my sister learned how to harmonize and everything and we just started playing together."
It's more than just a casual activity the siblings do sitting around the house. Josh and his sister perform across the state at various festivals and competitions. What started as a hobby grew into a passion and he credits football for helping him dial in when learning his other crafts.
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"It's taught me how to work at something and not stop at it until you know that 'hey, I've accomplished this. I'm good at this,'" he pointed out. "Then you can move on and continue to work at it and get better, so football has definitely helped me a lot with my patience and my discipline in learning how to play guitar."
"There are so many other gifts that we have within ourselves that we can share or we can tap into," Cook noted. "Often times we think sports is going to be it all and in reality, we're blessed with so many opportunities."
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The junior is seizing his opportunities, finding a balance between song and sports. Josh would love it if a football scholarship was in his future, but his main goal is to be a music major in college and become a choir director. He's striving for his best, be it in every measure or every yard, but admits one holds the top spot at the moment.
"That's my number one goal," he said of football in the fall. "I want to leave here with championships, I want to have a winning record and after that, when I have spare time, that's when I play guitar. I guess football has kind of taken the front over guitar for the time being."
Simpson and Western Branch are on a bye this week before the Bruins return to action next Friday, hosting Nansemond River.
